Wireless communication devices participating in a VoIP call, such as a voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) call, can use an audio codec to encode and decode audio data exchanged during the call. Audio codecs can have a codec rate, which can define a bit rate used to encode audio data, and thus the size of an audio data packet resulting from encoding an audio data sample (usually 20 milliseconds of audio data in VoLTE calls) at the codec rate.
The amount of data that a wireless communication device can send and/or receive over a radio link that can be used to support a VoIP call can depend on radio frequency (RF) channel conditions. As such, the codec rate selected for use during call establishment can be selected based on channel conditions existing at the outset of the call. However, channel conditions can fluctuate over time, and a wireless communication device can experience a wide range of condition during a communication session. For example, a wireless communication device participating in a call can enter an area with poor RF conditions during the call, and can be unable to successfully send encapsulated vocoder packets encoded at the codec rate chosen during the call establishment phase. This inability to successfully send encapsulated vocoder packets can cause interruptions in the call and, in some instances, can even cause the call to drop, thus negatively impacting user experience.